Greetings readers!
I hope the week finds you well. This is the continuation of the post done by 
Magna could smell a different smell under the corruption that had invaded the room earlier. Unlike everything else in this kingdom, it was sweet, fresh, almost rose-like. This was something she hadn’t smelled since leaving their kingdom. This was innocence.
She stalked the halls of the ruined castle but couldn’t find the smell. It was everywhere, yet nowhere at the same time. She was desperate to find it. She was so intent on her search that she yelped when someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.
As she was about to yell at the person, she realised that she had been about to climb over the castle wall and plummet to her death. As she sat down with all the blood draining from her face, Sebastian looked down at her with a look of concern on his face.
“Are you prone to being as pigheaded as your father?”
While the insult was there, there was also genuine concern.
“The smell leads this way.”
“Smell?” Sebastian queried as he looked over what remained of his ruined kingdom.
Homes surrounding the castle were starting to fall into ruin, like the hovels on the outskirts of the city, but surrounding all of the ruins was a forest. It had been an odd forest when Sebastian had been younger, and now it was even stranger.
His parents had always warned him and his sister to never play within its depths because of the gnarled roots and thorns that could easily rip apart the sturdiest travel clothing. Yet, as the king looked out over his rotting kingdom, he noticed that the forest was the only part that was covered in slime and decay. No, he was sure that he could see a few green leaves.
He looked down at his niece and noted some scuff marks around her that seemed to lead over the wall. Sebastian looked over the wall and realised that something had leapt from the battlements and landed below them. It was a great fall, and there was no way that a mortal would have survived that fall.
“I see.” He said after some time.
He squatted by Magna’s side and whispered, “You are right. Something did come this way, but you need to use your eyes and not just your nose. Your mother would find a way to kill me if anything happened to you.”
Magna was taken aback by the softness in her uncle’s voice. She had not heard it before. As he got to his feet, he dragged her up. He continued to look over to the forest as the rest of the party joined them.
“The girl is right, something came through this way, but it has sought shelter in the forest. There has never been greenery out there, but now there is. It is strange.”
“Not really.” Said Mortis before he could stop himself.
He was starting to get annoyed with the god talking through his any time he wished to.
Adrian gripped his left wrist tight and looked up at him with the same piercing eyes as Adiran. He knew the boy knew; the entity knew that the boy knew. Now it was deciding if it needed to say anything further and reveal itself to everyone.
“The undead is right, it makes sense, seeing as the Hunger was created from a forest god. However, I am confused that a corrupt being would bring life instead of taking life.” Lucien looked out over the forest, seeing more than what the others could.
“That forest never truly had life.” Explained Sebastian. “The rains would avoid leaving water in this particular area, rather running off to lower sections, such as our farmlands. Despite not having the necessary water required for plant growth, that grey monstrosity continued to grow.”
Lucien rubbed at his chin, wondering how he had missed something so obvious. He needed to know more about the lands, and he needed to know more about the ability the princess had. He had seen her make a beeline out here and knew she was tracking the beast. Yet, he barely saw any signs of the creature’s passing, but she had followed with no problem. If she wasn’t tracking by sight, then she was using other senses, and as Lucien hadn’t heard anything, he could only conclude that she had smelled the beast. He had noticed her coughing and sneezing fit just before the corpse pile had attacked them. If she had what he thought she had, it was an ancient skill long lost to time. He could use that.
“You can smell the beast’s magic, can’t you?” asked Lucien.
Magna shrugged her shoulders and said, “I smell a lot of things.”
“This is different though.” Lucien closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I smell mould, death, and all of you, but I cannot smell what you were chasing.”
“Leave her be.” Said Mortis.
“If we can track that beast, we can end all of this.” Snapped Lucien. “Do you not long for the embrace of death? For this world to stop making sacrifices out of good people for the sake of curses?”
“You assume defeating this beast will cure all curses miraculously.” Said Leopold.
“Defeat? Who said anything about defeating?” snapped Lucien.
“Uncle warned me that you would get like this.” Said Adrian as he released Mortis. “You want to capture it and continue the experiments of your master.”
Lucien was injured by what the boy had said. Was this what Adiran had thought of him all along? Lucien couldn’t blame him. Adiran knew more about his past than those surrounding him. However, they were wrong, and he couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed by the child’s accusation. Mortis picked up on the Lifedrinker’s annoyance and realised why.
“You don’t want to capture it; you want to find a way to reverse what your master had done.”
That’s not possible.
Mortis ignored the voice in his head.
“I don’t want to find a way to reverse what was done.” Said Lucien softly. “I have already found a way. I need to test it now. However, to do that, I need to capture the beast.”
Here is an explanation of Chain Stories and here is the current Chainstory Library
Mortis Custos
Sanguifex
The Reader List
If you would like to be tagged in every episode of Mortis Custos, leave us a comment and get added in, miss nothing!
The Watchlist:
